The Calgary Flames did not have the lottery balls go their way at the Draft Lottery, where they saw themselves drop from the fourth overall pick, down to sixth. The salt in the wound was seeing the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that has an abundance of elite players and made the playoffs nine years in a row before missing this year, win the lottery. On top of this, San Jose happened to find themselves with another high draft pick, even though they barely missed the playoffs. Despite the outcome of the lottery, the Flames will need to stick to the plan and find a great player. But can they do this by moving up in the draft, too, and should they? We asked, you answered.
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Should the Flames move up in the Draft?
We presented the poll below to our readers.
Yes, at all costs
This isn’t a draft that the Flames absolutely need to trade up in, and our readers recognize that. There is no McDavid, Matthews, or MacKinnon in this draft. Nobody in this draft class is a generational talent, but there are some very good players. The Flames already have a goalie and defenceman who look to be key pieces for the next 10 years, and for an “at all costs” scenario, if it means one of those two needs to be traded, it does not make sense to do that to move up.
Only for McKenna/Stenberg
One of these two players is exactly what the Flames need to start building out their forward group and adding some offence. However, that would mean jumping up four spots in the draft, and in this draft, where McKenna and Stenberg are clearly a tier above what is available after the first two picks, this price would be hefty. Would Calgary consider this trade even if it means they would need to give up their 2027 first-round pick? What about if they needed to give up one of their key prospects? The package would be a lot, but for the first time in a very long time, a trade like this actually makes sense for both the team trying to move up, and the other, which in this case would be the Sharks.
No trade
Despite the four-year playoff drought, this is really the Flames’ first year of their rebuild. This past year was the first time they truly embraced both selling off veterans for futures-focused packages, as well as embracing the youth. So if this is only year one, what is the rush? There will be multiple years after this where Calgary will be in contention for a top pick. Maybe there is no need to push all the chips forward to get a top pick this year. After all, there are still some incredibly talented players that will be available where the Flames are drafting who will be key pieces to Calgary’s path back to contention.
Conroy has options
Conroy obviously would have loved to have a top pick to get one of the top forwards available; now, he must assess whether the price to move up in the draft is worth it for this franchise. He has expressed interest in exploring avenues to move up, but let’s see if it comes to fruition.